The X-Files Friday Feature: Serialised Television

It seems like a good time, right before the season five finale and the first feature film, to write about serialised television, because for the most part, The X-Files isn't. Except when it is. Obviously.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 19: Folie à Deux

Holy shit, this was one of the more disturbing episodes of the show, wasn't it?

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 18: The Pine Bluff Variant

Wow, this was a fantastic episode. Duplicity, conspiracy, and Holland Manners. Er, Sam Anderson, but if you've seen Angel, you know what I mean.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 17: All Souls

Well, if this isn't 'Revelations', part two. While Mulder has been having a season-long crisis of faith of his own, now Scully gets to have her years long crisis. It's not that she's losing her faith, but it does seem that ever since her abduction in season two, there's been a lot more doubt in her mind about the things she has believed.

And meeting Emily and finding out the truth about her surely did not help.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 16: Mind's Eye

If I believed what I saw on television and knew nothing about reality, I might believe that all blind people had special abilities they used to compensate for their inability to see.

The X-Files Friday Feature: D.C., Politics

It's weird watching a show like this living in the Washington, DC area.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 15: Travelers

Another episode with absolutely no Scully and almost no Mulder, either. In hindsight, it's now obvious why this episode wasn't very good.

The X-Files Season 5, Episodes 13/14: Patient X/The Red and the Black

Oh fun, Krycek again. And the black oozing goo, now also known as the Black Cancer and the Black Oil. Perhaps it will reappear as Black Slime next season.

I think that but for the final reveal, this two-parter would have been largely just kind of blah. There seemed to be a lot of filler considering that the plot itself was more straightforward than many of the other two-part episodes we've seen.

The X-Files Sesaon 5, Episode 12: Bad Blood

Hey, everyone, remember '3'? That was the last time this show tried to tackle vampire mythology, and it did not go so well.

That is so not the case with 'Bad Blood', which is, I think one of the best episodes of the series, and definitely of season five so far.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 11: Kill Switch

Well, I suppose actual humans uploading themselves to the internet is better than a demon being scanned from an old book onto the internet, right?

The X-Files Friday Feature: You Got Your Science In My Fiction

Or maybe you got your fiction in my science? (Hrm, now I want some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.)

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 10: Chinga

Remember the rule of The X-Files: children are evil or creepy, often both. This goes doubly so for dolls. And even more so for dolls in episodes co-written by Stephen King.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 9: Schizogeny

In every season of The X-Files, there is at least one completely incomprehensible episode. In season five, that episode is 'Schizogeny'.

Because seriously, I don't get it.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 8: Kitsunegari

Just like in 'Tooms', when I didn't even remember 'Squeeze', I was a little confused for the first few minutes of 'Kitsunegari'. OK, so Mulder and Scully apprehended someone, and that's when I should have realised this would be a sequel episode continuing from a similarly creepy first episode - Mulder and Scully never worked together before the series began. It should have been obvious that this was a followup to something we'd already seen.

The X-Files Season 5, Episodes 6/7: Christmas Carol/Emily

NOPE. A world of NOPE. I have no idea what the hell is going on or why. This was a very uncomfortable hour and a half.

The X-Files Friday Feature: Blogging, Revisited

Writing a blog about a television show is a lot like writing a book report.

I'm glad it's not for credit.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 5: The Post-Modern Prometheus

Well, this was different. It's Frankenstein. And it's in black and white. And it's kind of funny and bizarre.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 4: Detour

Mulder and Scully clearly do not remember 'Darkness Falls', because they've decided to venture into the woods on some kind of hunch about a monster. Well, Mulder's hunch.

Of course, the alternative is attending what sounds like a horrible convention for FBI agents with two of the biggest tools in the bureau. I mean, seriously, do people like that even exist? People who think those silly team building exercises are actually useful? Whatever, they aren't in most of the episode.

The X-Files Season 5, Episode 3: Unusual Suspects

The Lone Gunmen origin story! YES! And some somewhat confusing misdirection, but that's OK, because despite nothing really being resolved by the end, we see the formation of the Lone Gunmen and get some interesting back story on the three of them.

The X-Files Season 5, Episodes 1/2: Redux

I can already tell season five is going to be spectacular. I also have pretty much no idea what to believe any more after watching 'Redux'.